Loseley Park

Loseley Park is a historic manor house situated outside Guildford in Surrey, England near Compton. The estate was acquired by the direct ancestors of the current owners, the More-Molyneux, at the beginning of the 16th century.

Loseley Park is the residence of the More-Molyneux family, and is open to the public. In the neighbouring fields, a herd of Jersey cattle grazes. Their milk is used to make local products of yogurt and ice cream. The 17th century tithe barn is available for weddings.

Loseley appears in Domesday Book of 1086 as "Losele". It was held by Turald (Thorold) from Roger de Montgomery. Its domesday assets were: 2 hides. It had 4 ploughs, convert|5|acre|m2 of meadow. It rendered £3. [ [http://www.gwp.enta.net/surrnames.htm Surrey Domesday Book] ]

The house

The present house was built between 1562 and 1568 with stone brought from the ruins of Waverley Abbey. [ [http://www.aboutbritain.com/LoseleyPark.htm About Britain] retrieved 6-1-07] The new house replaced a smaller one which Elizabeth I declared was not 'adequate' for her to visit and requested something larger be built. The great hall is the principal room containing panelling from Henry VIII's Nonsuch Palace, a minstrel's gallery, carvings by Grinling Gibbons, panels from Henry VIII's banqueting tents and a collection of royal and family portraits.

The drawing room has a gilded ceiling decorated for James I's visit and a chalk fireplace. The carvings above the library fireplace (dated 1570) commemorate one of Elizabeth I's visits. Sir More's room contain an 18th century Vauxhall mirror. Two bedrooms named the King's Room and the Queen's Room were used by James I and Elizabeth I respectively. [ [http://www.loseley-park.com/house.asp Loseley Park house webpage] retrieved 6-1-07] The house contains one of the few paintings of Anne Boleyn.

The garden

The walled garden, based on a design by Gertrude Jekyll, contains a series of "rooms" with different themes running through them. The redevelopment of the garden commenced in 1993/4 with the Rose Garden and continued with the Herb Garden, Flower Garden, White Garden and, most recently, the organic Vegetable and Cut Flower Garden. The gardens are surrounded by an old wall of similar age to the house and contain a vine walk, a huge spread of wisteria, the moat and moat walk, and the old mulberry tree around which a family prophesy revolves. [ [http://www.loseley-park.com/walledgarden.asp Loseley Park garden webpage] retrieved 6-1-07]

References

External websites

* [http://www.loseley-park.com Loseley Park website]
* [http://www.loseley-park.com/downloads/groupsguide.pdf Loseley Park guide]
* [http://www.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?client=public&X=497500&Y=147500&width=700&height=400&gride=497691&gridn=147145&srec=0&coordsys=gb&db=pc&addr1=&addr2=&addr3=&pc=GU31HS&advanced=&local=&localinfosel=&kw=&in
]